VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～

Delay brought to you by laziness and lack of motivation.

Before we get into the chapter. I left a term that appears in this chapter in Japanese because I wasn’t really sure how to properly translate it.

The term is 捨て奸 (Sutegamari). From some quick research, it appears to be a “strategy” (Though it’s hard to call it one) that was used back in the Sengoku period. It’s hard to call it one because from my understanding it was basically throwing small squads of soldiers towards the enemy in order delay and hold them off while the high ranking officers or leaders escaped. Basically sacrifices.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter and I’ll see you next time.

These guys, they were aiming for the moment where they were able to attack us after the field boss was defeated!

Since it was judged that we had been attacked by other players, the words 『Attacking is enabled』 appeared in our vision written in blue letters.

「Vanguards to the front!」(Hind)

「Yeah!」(Yumir)

「Understood!」(Tobi)

「Y-Yes!」(Lyco)

Yumir swept her sword sideways, Tobi took out his two blades and Lycoris wielded her shield and they came forward.

Having come to this, even if we counterattack and defend ourselves, in the case that we defeat them, it won’t count as PK.

Like I did when we started playing the game, I was fine even when I MPK’d that other player.

We were able to somehow endure through the ambush, which is a PK’s biggest advantage but…the information of the players that attacked us came into view.

It’s impossible to hide your name if it has turned orange.

「This is bad…Riizu, what do you think?」(Hind)

「Yes. This is not looking good.」(Riizu)

「What is not looking good!? Obviously, we just have to beat them up and proceed forward right!?」(Yumir)

「Don’t be stupid, think about the difference in numbers! On top of that, their levels are around the same as ours.」(Hind)

「Muh…」(Yumir)

As you’d expect with the level cap having been raised not long ago, it’s not like they have reached level cap.

From a quick glance, there were some in the early or mid 40s and the rest were in the 30s.

They looked like a genuine PK Guild.

Making sure that the sea wasn’t behind us, we slowly grouped together while backing away and looked for a chance to run away.

Luckily, they still hadn’t surrounded us.

「Hind-senpai. Judging from that first attack, in this case, the party limitations…」(Sai)

「They don’t matter. That’s why they group up in teams of 5, right now, it’s like a genuine 8 vs 50.」(Hind)

Cineraria-chan asked me in a hurry while releasing arrows.

Though the number 50 was just because PKs are under the same restrictions as normal guilds.

Actually, I think they roughly have that number from a quick glance.

The guild name that was displayed was 『Night’s Edge』.

It’s just that when they pair up in the field. They have to share the experience and bonuses between each party , can only see their own party member’s information and they have to challenge bosses with each party.

Even though we were attacked by PKs, it’s not like we can fight each party 1 by 1 like we do with field bosses.

「Tobi! Plan C!」(Hind)

「Oh!? …Is that so, guess there’s no choice. I’ll prepare it right away!」(Tobi)

「Did everyone hear me!?」(Tobi)

Everyone nodded at my words.

I expected PKs to attack us, so I prepared a few strategies beforehand.

Plan C is one that’s used when running away…so, I released a 『Shining』 towards the enemy archers eyes.

It was a direct hit. The archers rubbed their eyes while their shooting posture crumbled.

Then, before we got surrounded, Tobi took out certain items from his inventory and threw them.

The first one was a bo-hiya, it was thrown at the grouped up enemies to deal some damage and also to stop the rearguards with its strong knockback effect.

Riizu used 『Fireball』, Cineraria-san 『Double Shot』, Selene-san 『Strong Shot』 and Siesta-chan and me used 『Shining』 at the same time.

In this situation, we don’t have the leisure to use long casting time magic or skills that leave us wide open.

After using the Bo-hiya, Tobi threw the new item towards his own feet.

The ball split and white smoke started to cover the surroundings.

「To the horses!」(Hind)

They should be able to understand with just these words.

I made a circle with a pair of fingers and blew strongly while placing them inside my mouth.

Pyuu! After a strong ringing sound, the sound of horse hooves could be heard within the smoke.

This is a game system, it has the function of calling the mount you have previously ridden towards you when you whistle through your fingers but…

「Fyuu!」

「Buuh!」

「Pufuh!」

「Pihyu!」

「The sound is not coming off!? You guys, the sound is not coming off properly! It’s made so everyone should be able to do it so I told you guys to practice until you could do it!」(Hind)

「Hind-kun, if you shout like that they are going to be able to tell our position!」(Selene)

「Though I can understand how Hind-san feels. Sigh, such lack of discipline…」(Riizu)

「Eh, I’m sorry. About those two…」(Sai)

「Since those two idiots from our group are the same, don’t mind it.」(Hind)

Only four out of eight were able to properly whistle.

In reality, it should have been made easier to whistle in game than it is in real life but…this is just terrible…

Even though everyone was able to do it when we had practiced previously.

Regardless, since we have been able to call half of them, we decided to ride in pairs and got closer to those idiots that couldn’t call their horses.

「That hurts!」(Hind)

「What happened, Hind!?」(Yumir)

「My shoulder started to hurt-…wait, what the heck is this!?」(Hind)

「He’s been stabbed, he’s been stabbed! There’s a knife protruding from his shoulder!」(Yumir)

Yumir, who was riding in front of me, shouted as she turned around.

What should I do with this knife!?

When it comes to arrows, they disappear as soon as you pull them out but…oh, it disappeared along with the blood.

Just when I thought that, poison status!? It was a poisoned knife!?

「Are you serious!? These guys are not messing around!」(Yumir)

「Since they are not saying a single word it makes them scary as hell! -Adah! An Arrow!」(Tobi)

In a certain way, you could say they are more ninjaish than Tobi in this case.

However, to be fine even if you have an arrow sticking out of your head…as expected of a game.

These guys, given their actions until now, it would be better to call them a group of assassins like their guild name states instead of mountain thieves.

「Hind-san!」(Riizu)

Having instantly noticed my condition, Riizu threw an antidote at me.

The bottle broke and I was successfully detoxified as a light effect enveloped my body.

「Thanks! We arrived Yumir, hurry up and get on top of the other one!」(Hind)

「Yeah!」(Yumir)

Yumir energetically leaped from the horse and went towards the other Grado Turk and jumped on top of it.

I mean, it’s true that I told her to hurry up but…as you’d expect, even a Grado Turk would complain if you were to suddenly crash onto his back.

Then, I used 『Attack Up』 on Yumir.

「Alright, go and rampage! Though remember-」(Hind)

「I should retreat if my HP goes under 50% right!? I know!」(Yumir)

「Other than that, just in case, don’t forget to switch to your sub gear! If you don’t want to end up crying later that is!」(Hind)

「Umu, I’ll get going! ..Ah, that’s right. Leave this to-」(Yumir)

「Just get going! Is this the time to be saying that!?」(Hind)

Yumir chose a different set of equipment from what she usually wore.

As a result, the gear she was wearing changed instantly.

The appearance was similar but…the process of making them and their performance could be called a failed product (According to Selene-san).

However, the rank was still first-rate +1 or +2. Are these failed products?

Immediately after Yumir ran off with the Grado Turk, the smoke was blown away by the sea breeze.

「Ah, they are riding horses too!」

「Yumir is going to buy us some time! Everyone, hurry up and get on top of your horses!」(Hind)

Maybe because the rank of their horses were all over the place, there was a big difference between the moving speed of each other…

To think that they would have gathered so many horses, as expected, choosing to run away was the best choice.

With a longsword in hand, Yumir rushed towards the enemies.

Whoa, after bumping into one of their horses, the horse was blown away easily…as expected, the Grado Turks are the best!

「Hind-dono, thinking about it, doesn’t this make it a Sutegamari?」(Tobi)

「But, she’s the one that said that she would take the rear in this situation. Besides, even if she gets surrounded, she’d be able to do something about it with her Grado Turk…maybe.

It’s not like we are abandoning her so it’s definitely not Sutegamari!」(Hind)

「And that’s how senpai tried to convince himself.」(Siesta)

「Uuuh…I-I did nothing wrong! It’s not my fault! She’s the one that said she’d do it!」(Hind)

「Well, this is a game after all. Even if that person fails, it’s not like she’s really going to die. There’s no need for Hind-san to worry about her.」(Riizu)

「Riizu-chan is acting coldly. Or you could say that she has no leniency towards Yumir-san.」(Selene)

「Yumir-san, please stay safe…」(Lyco)

「Ah, thanks to Yumir-senpai our pursuers have slowed down. We might be able to get away at this rate.」(Sai)

Like that, we successfully escaped towards 『Cresciente Coast』.

A few minutes later, Yumir returned to the previous town we passed through called 『Town of Canaris』 with her body numb and on the verge of death.

Yumir was in a state where she couldn’t move but the Grado Turk she was riding was in perfect condition.

「Hind…heal me…because of the numbness and my low stamina I can’t move…」(Yumir)

「Wait a moment, I’ll heal you right away!」(Hind)

「Ooh, she really came back alive! Even though she’s Yumir-dono!」(Tobi)

「Tobi, I’ll kill you later…uuh…」(Yumir)

She really did well to come back alive.

I first cured her numbness and then started to heal her HP.

The moment the treatment started, Yumir immediately went back to being cheerful.

However, we can’t really proceed like this…

After Yumir’s treatment was over, we went to a restaurant in the town to discuss countermeasures while we rested.

We left the horses in the stable.

「…I think they’ll still be there even if we went and tried again, I guess we might need to take another route after all.」(Hind)

When I stated that, Yumir stood up while vigorously hitting the table.

The soup looked as if it was going to spill over.

「Huh? I refuse! I won’t be satisfied until I beat those guys to a pulp and proceed!」(Yumir)

「I know how you feel. However, how many people did you defeat back then?」(Hind)

「Guh! …son.」(Yumir)

「Hmm?」(Hind)

「One person! One! Gunununu….on top of that, he was revived instantly after that! I was only able to defeat one of them with Burst Edge! Damn it!」(Yumir)

「Right? We would have to go past that wall of people, then defeat the Shinto Priests on the back…after that we would exterminate the rest. That would be the ideal scenario but it would be hard to do with only eight people.」(Hind)

「Is there no other way!?」(Yumir)

「If you wanted to win with a small group, you would usually aim for their leader but…since no one is saying anything, we don’t know who their leader is. Besides, since it’s not like an official PvP duel, even if we were to defeat the Shinto Priests, they can still revive with Holy Water. I can’t see a way to win this.」(Hind)

「I guess this is the limits we have with our low number of people…in that case, as expected-」(Tobi)

「Ah!」(Selene)

Selene-san, who was sitting in front of me, suddenly raised her voice in surprise.

Seems like she’s looking towards something right behind me…then, I felt something touching my shoulder.

Who is it? As I turned around while thinking that…a male wearing japanese clothing and had his hair tied into a knot had his hand raised in our direction and smiled at us.

「…Mitsuyoshi-san!?」(Hind)

「Hey, been a while. I’ve come to get you. People of Migratory Bird and Baby Bird.」(Mitsuyoshi)